Prima Ballerinas

I spent Sunday working backstage at the spring recital for the dance studio I went to from the time I was 8 or 9 years old until I graduated high school. Being backstage was wonderful. My sister and her friends are now juniors in high school and all pretty serious dancers, so hanging out with them was fun.

The community of All That Jazz Dance Studio is wonderful. The traditional pre-show pep talk always closes with a simple reminder, shouted at the top of our lungs: Smile and Have Fun. It's the perfect mantra for this studio. There are some phenomenal dancers, and some who clearly dance because they love it, but aren't necessarily wonderful. There are girls of every body type, interest, and dance style. And it's all one community of dancers. I didn't realize how unique and special it was until I left.

These little girls were carrying each other around backstage. As injured little dancers are never a good thing, I had to find them alternate forms of backstage entertainment, but I couldn't resist snapping a few photos first.